Growing Pains

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, is determined to be the presidential candidate for those conservatives who believe that Republicans have lately been concentrating too much on cutting the budget and not enough on increasing economic growth. His new economic plan is a very aggressive exercise in supply-side economics. It cuts the corporate tax rate from 35 to 15 percent — lower even than Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, which takes it to 25 percent. It reduces the top income-tax rate from 35 to 25 percent. It abolishes the estate tax, the capital-gains tax, and the dividend tax outright. With these policies — along with spending cuts, deregulation, and free trade — Pawlenty believes that the country can reach his goal of 5 percent annual economic growth for a decade.

He sketches a beguiling vision of the results. “Growing at 5 percent a year — rather than the current level of 1.8 percent — would net us millions of new jobs. Trillions of dollars in new wealth. Put us on a path to saving our entitlement programs. And balance the federal budget.”